LONDON -- The English Football Association has charged Crystal Palace goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey with improper conduct after he appeared to perform a Nazi salute in a photograph posted online by teammate Max Meyer.

The FA alleges the gesture was "abusive and/or insulting and/or improper and/or brought the game into disrepute." The governing body adds that it was an aggravated breach of its rules because it included a "reference to ethnic origin and/or race and/or religion and/or belief."

Hennessey was near the back of the table during a team dinner in an image posted earlier this month by Meyer on an Instagram story. He denied performing a Nazi salute, saying "any resemblance to that kind of gesture is absolutely coincidental."

Hennessey said he "waved and shouted at the person taking the picture to get on with it and at the same time put my hand over my mouth to make the sound carry."